Thoughts on repairing small hole on Fox 40 lowers

Where, exactly, is the hole?

Pictures would help.

The hole was caused by someone using a wheel clamping bolt that was too long so the hole is directly behind the bolt. So basically the hole is inside the fork but allows oil to leak out of the wheel clamping area.

The easy fix? Wrap that one bolt in teflon tape, which will form an oil tight seal.

The slightly more long term fix would be find a very short grub screw which would fit, and then fixing that in place. Using JB Weld, while effective, could be problematic as you'd need a surface free of oil and you'd need to either protect the threads somehow, or chase them afterwards.

Thanks for the reply, the threads are actually in a black cylinder on Fox 40 lowers. I like the teflon idea but I'm pretty sure the oil would still leak around the threaded cylinder(which it does now). The good news is I can slide the cylinder out to seal the hole with JB Weld and not have to worry about the threads. I guess I was wondering if the JB Weld would stay in place. This is on the spring side and the oil is only used for lube so I don't think there should be much pressure. Also if I apply the JB from the outside it would be less likely to get in the fork should it fail? I may have talked myself into trying this, I just don't want the repair to break and get into the oil because I probably wouldn't notice until it was too late. I guess what I'm asking is how likely the stuff is to actually stay in place and do it's job?

BikenBrew said:

Also if I apply the JB from the outside it would be less likely to get in the fork should it fail?

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JBWeld does not fail, ever. Lol.

I once repaired a crack in one of the heads of my '85 Thunderbird with that stuff. The motor died a few years later, but it wasn't because of JBWeld.

Can you put a pop rivet in the hole all gooped up with silicon sealant, or even jbweld? If so that would be better than just a sealant/epoxy alone. It will give the goo something to fasten to rather than just a hole. Heck, a small screw/rivet and a dab of Liquid Nails would do the trick......but I'd stick with a caulking or jbweld.

Sorry, while I've ridden the Fox 40, I haven't had the oppertunity to really work on one yet.

The good thing is, you actually need very little to seal the cylinder inside the lower. What I would do is turn the fork upside down to get all the oil away from the work area. Then remove the threaded cylinder and clean both it and the bore with alcohol to remove any traces of oil. Then, mix up a little bit of JD Weld, and put just the thinnest coat of it on the cylinder, and then reinstall the cylinder. Wait 24 hours for it to fully set, and then you should be good.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll try the JB Weld. By the way, anyone wanna buy a slightly used Fox 40 rc2 Hahaha.

I'll give you $50 for it.

bad mechanic said:

I'll give you $50 for it.

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Talk about bad advice:thumbsup:

how much does a replacement lower cost?

Go Ride has them for around 269.00 I believe. This fork is in nice shape besides this small hole. I just bought this bike, used vpfree, and noticed a small amount of oil on the very bottom of the lower around the footnut/crushwasher area so I took the thing apart, installed new seals, changed the oil. When I put everything back together with new crushwashers, and proper torque it leaked pretty badly. The guy that sold me the bike had to know he poked a hole in the lowers. Anyway i feel pretty confident I can fix it and even if I do have to buy new lowers I probably still would have bought the bike. Shady people piss me off.

Brown_Teeth said:

Talk about bad advice:thumbsup:

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Well, I am a bad mechanic. *rim shot*

bad mechanic said:

Well, I am a bad mechanic. *rim shot*

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For your convienence....http://instantrimshot.com/

Renovatio said:

For your convienence....http://instantrimshot.com/

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This has made my life quantifiably better.

Just be careful that any fix you try does not protrude much into the inside of the lowers. The hole is way down at the bottom, but the stanchion might still slide that far down. You dont want to have to by a new stanchion as well as lowers...

So BikenBrew how did the repair work? Have you ridden the repaired fork yet?

I punched a good dent in one leg of my Fox Float 32 on the weekend. My buddy that works at my local shop suggested drilling a hole and then using JB weld to seal it up. I think I'll try it as new lowers are $280.